Tech Disruption in Africa: Assessing the Potential of the Digital Labour Platform Sector

Trade Briefs ~ Author/s: John Stuart

Digital labour platforms are applications that run on computers and smart devices and are able to facilitate new online markets for services of diverse types. These platforms disrupt existing markets in the sense that they replace prior ways of doing business, but they also create new modes of market behaviour, make new markets and even create new services.

This Trade Brief recognises the potential importance of digital labour platforms for the developing world, especially Africa, where self-employment and micro entrepreneurial activity is more important than perhaps anywhere else in the world. The brief firstly outlines the dimensions of the global market and then attempts to estimate the size of the actual and the potential digital labour market in Africa. The brief closes with an extended conclusion that covers remaining challenges and policy recommendations.

Readers are encouraged to quote and reproduce this material for educational, non-profit purposes, provided the source is acknowledged. All views and opinions expressed remain solely those of the author and do not purport to reflect the views of tralac.

Will the AfCFTA generate NTB related Disputes?

Trade Briefs ~ Author/s: Gerhard Erasmus

When private sector stakeholders are encouraged to report instances of encountering NTBs on a public monitoring platform such as tradebarriers.org, the assumption is that their complaints will be resolved through appropriate remedial action. The frequently encountered NTBs involve customs operations and border documentation requirements, rules of origin documentation, pre-shipment inspections, sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBTs).

The manner in which African countries trade amongst themselves (the bulk of the exported goods are transported by road and are cleared by different national border agencies and authorities) suggests how many urgent NTB-related problems should be addressed: Corridor management and transport regimes should be harmonized, one-stop border posts should be established and e-filing of clearance documentation should become standard practice.

Legal principles pertaining to the powers exercised by South Africa’s energy regulator (Nersa) – what we can learn from recent court cases?

Working Papers ~ Author/s: Dawid van Wyk and Gerhard Erasmus

Services are vital for economic growth. The services sector is the most rapidly growing segment of the world economy. It adds significant value to manufacturing and agricultural production. Services are also the most important sector for investment. Policy initiatives to grow services for domestic economic development, to introduce market reforms, and to promote regional integration are urgent but also challenging. Institutional and regulatory reforms will be necessary, as will be the harmonization of regulatory regimes.

The negotiations for establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) include a Protocol on Trade in Services. Five priority areas will be liberalized at the outset and more are expected to follow. And COVID-19 has taught us important lessons in respect of the need to prioritise additional services sectors such as public health and educational services.

This Working Paper discusses a number of recent South African court cases in which the legal principles pertaining to the powers exercised by the regulator responsible for energy services in South Africa are explained. This useful overview sheds light not only on an important area of public law, but also on the policy context in which services regulators operate. Electricity tariffs is only one of the problems to be fixed. Additional urgent reforms are necessary in order to increase efficiency, to make Eskom more cost-effective and less prone to corruption.

What are the Implications for UK – African Trade if the Brexit talks fail?

Working Papers ~ Author/s: Gerhard Erasmus

On 29 March 2017, the UK Government notified the European Council that it wanted to withdraw from the European Union (EU). This happened after a referendum on 23 June 2016 in which the UK electorate was asked whether the country should remain a member of the EU or leave it. The nature of the future relationship with the EU, the UK’s most important trading partner, did not figure on the ballot paper.

The Brexit process proved to be technically complicated and politically controversial. The initial debate in the UK emphasized regaining “sovereign control,” but as discussions with Brussels progressed, different needs and new complications had to be tackled. Mrs May wanted to exit the EU’s single market and conclude a bespoke agreement; for which there was no precedent. The EU, on the other hand, sought an orderly and comprehensive withdrawal in which the interests and integrity of the EU were protected. There had to be obligations regarding the UK’s post Brexit practices. It insisted on a “level playing field” for the future relationship with the UK. Only after this had been achieved, would a new trade agreement be negotiated.

These considerations explain why the Withdrawal Agreement (which came into force in the beginning of 2020) remains central to the Brexit process. The recent indications that the UK may renege on its obligations in the Withdrawal Agreement (discussed below) pose a real threat to the prospects of reaching a final deal before the end of October 2020. There seems to be agreement on both sides that after this point there would not be sufficient time to ensure implementation of a new bilateral trade agreement on 1 January 2021. This is also the date when new trade agreements with third parties (including with the member states of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and Mozambique) will have to be implemented.